Posts Tagged ‘Italian’

Along with other people living in the Marine Parade area, we thronged the new 112 Katong mall on the first day of the New Year. I am happy that a new mall has opened up in this area. Previously, I used to like going to the East Coast Park area to have lunch at the C Nai Hong Kong Cafe, but they changed their menu about a year ago, and I was unable to find my favourite Abalone Ee Foo noodle soup. It was really delicious. The whole East Coast Park McDonalds area is getting even more run down due to the impending closure, and one of the restaurants Mango Tree has already relocated to the new 112 Katong mall, but I digress.

Love the lamps, but if you are tall you may just knock into them. There is also al-fresco seating, sheltered by the upper floors of 112 Katong mall which extends over. Don’t like the uncomfortable and unergonomic wooden chairs.

During my 1st visit back in early December 2011, I walked past Baci Italian Cafe. The place looked really promising as the decor looked quite inviting. I researched on the place and it seems that Baci Italian Cafe originated from Malaysia.

I decided to give it a try that day. The menu is pretty limited actually. They have a few sandwiches, a few pizzas, 2 pastas and 4 mains to choose from. I opted for the Pan Roasted Fish while the Partner opted for the Honey Glazed Pork Loin. Guess he was still in the Christmas mood although he’d beheaded our Christmas tree way before the 12th day of Christmas. (I’m still very upset by that, and the stump is still around to remind me of it’s former glory!)

Pan Roasted Fish $13.50 – Fish fillet seasoned with herbs and then pan roasted, topped with lemon caper sauce. The fish was pretty tasty. I think it’s dory, or at least it tasted like dory, which is a fish that I like. Although the fish was a little over cooked on the sides and therefore slightly hard, on the whole, it wasn’t very dry and I enjoyed it. The accompanying roast potatoes were forgettable, and so small in portion. Even I can make better roast potatoes. So was the lettuce salad. For $13.50, I did think the dish to be over priced for the amount of food served. And dory is quite a cheap fish.

Honey Glazed Pork Loin $16.50 – Pork loin marinated in a honey cider dressing then pan seared and topped with glazed apples $16.50. The pork too was slightly overdone and tough to chew. The honey glazed dressing was quite nice and went well with the porky flavours. Glazed apples was a nice touch but too soft. Would have liked them to provide a bit of a crunch.

We were contemplating having coffee here but the latte costs $5.50. We saw the next table struggling to stir their latte with a spoon barely taller than the latte glass, so it was easy to decide not to have coffee. Baci Italian Cafe has fresh blended juice for $8.50, for those who need a healthy boost, or you could get mojitos and bottled beers here as well.

I don’t find anything particularly Italian about Baci Italian Cafe. If the word “Italian” hadn’t been in the name, I would totally not have guessed it to be Italian. I mean there are only 2 pastas on offer, granted one of them is a choose your own pasta/topping/sauce type. There are more pizzas on offer, but still much lesser than the more conventional Italian restaurants.

Pricing is also a little expensive for a simple, small portioned meal at a heartland mall. Don’t be surprised if you see half a sandwich appearing on your table. That’s what you ordered. Given that there are quite a number of restaurants at 112 Katong, I think I’ll be giving this place a miss for the time being.

2 weeks ago, we gathered at this wonderful Italian restaurant to bid fond farewell and to celebrate the freedom of 3 of our colleagues. Pietra Santa is a particular favourite of one of the 3 who is leaving. After finally getting the opportunity to dine here, it’s not hard to understand why. It’s located in the really laid back area of Portsdown Road (just opposite Colbar). The al fresco area where we sat faced lush greenery, if you try to ignore the rows of cars parked just outside. It’s as close to “countryside” dining as you can get in Singapore. We arrived in the evening when the sun was setting and I definitely want to come back again in the morning to enjoy my meal amidst the chirping of the morning birds.

The Tuscan-styled Pietra Santa looks like the type of restaurant where the budget conscious may think thrice about dining here. Actually, the prices are pretty affordable. The pastas go from $18 – $25 while the pizzas are only $17 – $23. It only starts to get pricey if you order the appetisers (above $10) and the desserts (starting from $6.90), but even then, it’s not too bad.

I love this pretty alfresco seating area. It sure would be nice to have a meal here over a lazy weekend.

Some bread, which doesn’t seem to be featured on the menu on their website. You take a slice and dip it either in olive oil or the tomato concoction provided in the shot glasses. It also goes very well with the cold cut meats if you’re ordering that. It’s very firm so those without teeth should not eat this. 🙂

This, in my opinion, is just DIVINE. This is buffalo mozzarella at it’s best. This is the BEST buffalo mozzarella I have EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. I haven’t been to Italy so I would say this is the best bufala mozzarella in the whole of Singapore. It was so creamy and had such a rich intense flavour. The outside was a little firm, but like a half boiled egg, the inside was softer and it made me feel as if I was eating milky clouds. SO GOOOOOOD!!!! Even the non cheese lovers at our table had to stamp their approval. Again, this doesn’t seem to be in the main menu. Costs $40. I hear you can buy the mozzarella at Paragon MarketPlace for about $20. This weekend, I’m heading there and don’t you buy the last one.

Insalata di Calamari alla Griglia $16.90 – Grilled squid. Had a springy bite to it and tasted very fresh. Delicious. This is from the appetiser section, but it can even act as a main course as there’s 2 rolls of the squid.

Piatto di Salumi $23.90 – Mixed platter of traditional Italian cold cuts, It all tastes very delicious. For me, I personally find that eating this with the bread shown above is much better than eating these slices on their own.

Carpaccio di Manzo con Rucola e Parmigiano $16.90 – These are kind of like the thinnest slices of raw beef tenderloin I’ve come across. They almost melt in your mouth and disappear way too quickly.. Very delicious.

Tagliatelle con Salsiccia e Tartufo $24.90 – Home-made Tuscan Spaghetti with Sausage and Truffle. I love the rich meat sauce. It’s creamy yet not overly so. It goes so well with the pasta. I had to share this dish with a few other people, but I think I’ll order this again when I visit Pietra Santa again.

Diavola $18.90 – Italian Mozzarella and Spicy Salami in Tomato Sauce. Can give this a miss. Pizza is dry, hard and salty.

Cuore Morbido al Cioccolato $7.90 – Melting Chocolate Cake. Tastes good, but no where near the best that I’ve had in Singapore, which is a bit of a disappointment considering that this is an Italian restaurant and considering that the earlier dishes were so good.

There is air-conditioned seating inside too if you can’t take the heat. At night you can hardly feel the heat as the fans are also on.

Lastly, one tip when taking pictures outdoors. Don’t use your camera immediately after getting out of the air-conditioned car!

In conclusion, definitely have to bring the Partner here to enjoy the food as well as the surroundings. Service was also prompt and friendly. Only issue is, you need a car to get here, but I’m sure it’s well worth the effort!

Belated birthday treat from one of my good friends. At his request, mainly because he had a 1 for 1 voucher from one of the banks, we went to Spizza. It seems that the diners next to us also had a 1 for 1 voucher issued by another bank. I’ve always liked pizzas from Spizza. Their pizzas are the thin and floppy type (“wood-fired thin crusted Napoli pizzas”), oozing with delicious goodness from the toppings. None of the crispy pizza base types for me thank you. It’s so dumb that the Spizza outlet at HarbourFront closed and Pizza Hut took over instead. Can you believe the irony? Anyway Spizza is still available at Club Street, Bukit Timah and Jalan Kayu. I like the Club Street branch since it’s been there the longest, it was the 1st outlet, and it’s located near the Ann Siang Hill/Club Street area which is very nice for a stroll after dinner. Did you know that Spizza has an island-wide delivery? I just discovered that fact like 5 seconds ago. Might call for some when I’m feeling the craving!

All the pizzas cost $17 for medium size and $21 for large. For ladies, a medium would be more than enough. Between the 2 of us, we ordered 2 medium pizzas plus a calamari.

Crispy Calamari with Pizzaiola Sauce $11 – This was pretty good. They came out hot, which is a must, and the batter was crispy and fresh. There were also bits of crispy onions as well, which lent extra sweetness to the calamari. Delicious!

Quinta: Tomato, Mozzarella, Egg, Black Truffle Sauce $17 – This was so so so so SO delicious. If you are lost as to which pizza to choose, I would highly recommend the Quinta. The black truffle sauce really adds an unmistakable dimension to pizza. I’ve never seen so much truffle before too. And the egg. Ohhh…dip each pizza slice into the runny egg yolk. It is heavenly beyond compare!!!

My friend had never tried truffle before, at least not consciously. He was immediately hooked on this, despite the initial pungent smell.

Margherita: Tomato, Buffalo Milk Mozzarella, Fresh Basil $17 – After the explosion of flavours from the 1st pizza, this one kind of brought us back down to earth. I am a huge fan of buffalo milk mozzarella. I love caprese, so I wanted to see if pizza with mozzarella slices would be nice too. I was kind of imagining that the cheese would still be thick chunks laid out on the pizza, but it was baked as well. So this pizza felt pretty plain, no thanks to us having eaten Quinta first. It’s not a bad pizza, but if you want more ingredients, or you want the taste of the buffalo milk mozzarella to be stronger, don’t order this pizza.

Standard Chartered is also offering 15% discount for card holders, 20% if you have the Standard Chartered Visa Infinite Dining Privilege. Students also get 15% discount! And if you dine at Spizza often, you can get their loyalty card too.

Lately I’ve been into pizzas after knowing about a friend’s interest in opening a pizza joint. I am definitely no expert in pizzas, but I think that many Singaporeans are mistaken when they think they like thin and crispy pizzas as compared to thick bready based pizzas. Thick, bready based pizzas are definitely a no-no, and we all know which American chain introduced us those sub-standard pizzas. But thin and crispy pizzas are not the way to go either. I tried Skinny Pizza once and regretted the experience. It’s so crispy, it’s like eating crackers with toppings rather than pizza.

I am told that making the correct Italian style pizza base requires not only skill, but a really hot wood fired oven. Get the equation wrong, and you end up with everything but the real thing. Apparently the real base still tastes doughy and is moist. When you’ve tried that, you won’t ever turn back again. IeatIshootIpost has done a really good description of what an Italian styled pizza should be like.

As for me, as I said, I’m no expert so I’ll just focus on reporting about the possibly good pizzas I’ve tried lately. One of them comes from Trattoria Cucina Italiana, also known as Trattoria Italian Kitchen located conveniently at 313@ Somerset. First opened in Bali, Indonesia in 2002 by 2 Italians Edoardo Guerrini and Olivari Vanni, Trattoria Cicina Italiana restaurants can also be found in Jakarta, Medan, KL and Singapore.

I thought the taste was very good. It had a rich tomato sauce base with liberal amounts mozzarella oozing all over the place. The base was still moist and slightly floppy. Huge portion for just over $20 bucks!

Squid Ink pasta with salmon. I have to admit the presentation was a little shocking. Looked like a plate of fat black worms. Maybe black pasta should not be tube shaped…tagliatelle would be a better choice, but then again, that might remind you of flatworms…. anyway…this dish was also quite nice. I felt it was a little lacking in ingredients, salmon is the only solid ingredient in there. However, the pasta was very tasty on its own and made tastier with the creamy sauce.

Nice place with TVs to entertain you if your dining companion is busy with Facebook on the iPhone. Or you could people-watch the crowd rushing out of the Somerset MRT station. However the chairs are pretty hard and it’s just not comfortable enough to want to linger any longer than necessary.

Last Friday, we decided to try out Otto Ristorante. Otto Ristorante is one of those restaurants where it is highly recommended that you make reservations as the seating area is quite small. It was a bit confusing as to where Otto Ristorante was. If you look at the photo, you would think that this is the front of the restaurant. It is, but if you walk straight in, you end up in an unrelated bar. You have to actually turn left, after the circular fountain. There is a side door which leads into Otto Ristorante proper.

The very polite manager greeted us and gave us a delightful table in a corner. Otto Ristorante is currently having a truffle promotion. You order from the special menu and pay $10 per gram of truffle shavings desired.

Otto Ristorante has 5 different types of breads to choose from. We were torn between wanting to try all 5 without getting too full before the mains arrived! They had this onion one which I regret not getting! The breads were still warm, which is the best way to enjoy them.

The amuse bouche of beef with thousand island sauce. The beef was nice, tender and flavourful, but the thousand island sauce tasted like something out of a supermarket bottle. It’s good, but not amazing. Surely the chef can produce something with a higher “wow” factor considering it’s the amuse bouche?

Wagyu Beef Carpaccio with arugula salad and Black “Norcia” Truffle – $26 Wow this was really tasty. Just couldn’t get enough of it. Arugula can sometimes be bitter, but it paired so well with the beef! Didn’t detect a hint of the truffle though.

Closer shot of the Wagyu Beef Carpaccio. See how tender and juicy it looks??? Mmmmmm! This is on the starter menu but very light eaters can just consider this as their main dish.

Slow braised veal ravioli with morel mushrooms and thyme sauce – $28. The creamy sauce was not too heavy but still had a cheesy bite to it. The veal ravioli was good especially since it’s more common to get cheese or vegetarian ravioli. The morel mushrooms on the other hand looked good but lacked flavour which is such a waste since they are supposed to be very tasty but rare to find in Singapore. Did you know that Morel mushrooms are toxic if eaten raw?

Squid Ink Tagliatelle Baked Cod – $28. Yes I have to admit the photo doesn’t look too appetising. These were our first thoughts when we saw the dish. I was expecting an intact portion of cod, but they’d had it minced up with some other ingredients. I don’t know what those ingredients were, but it caused the flavours of the cod to be dulled. Even the diced tomatoes had a stronger taste than the minced cod. Also, it felt like there wasn’t very much cod to begin with. I was quite frankly very disappointed with the dish.

If I lower my expectations and assume that there was never meant to be any cod in this dish, then it’s not so bad. The squid ink pasta was nice and al-dente and filled the gap.

Otto Ristorante has a nice cosy interior. The waiters are extremely friendly and do not hesitate to help you with your selections by offering their recommendations. They are also very attentive and will be at your table instantly the moment you beckon to them. Their attitude cannot be faulted, but because it is such a tiny restaurant, you kind of feel like they are always hovering nearby. The Partner had no issues with this, but I guess I am one who needs lots of personal space!

Despite the cod fiasco, I would come to Otto Ristorante again to try out some of their other dishes including their signature crispy suckling pig ($48)! Crispy suckling pig Italian style, that’s got to be really interesting.